1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to closure apparatus and method for a lid of a compartment such as a trunk lid of a compartment such as a trunk lid of a luggage compartment, a tail gate (or back door), and a hood of an automotive vehicle by driving the lid in a closure direction by means of a driving device such as a reversible motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,018 issued on Nov. 14, 1989 (which is equivalent to a Japanese Patent Application First Publication No, Heisei 1-163386 published on Jun. 27, 1989) exemplifies a previously proposed vehicular trunk lid closure apparatus.
The above-described previously proposed vehicular trunk lid closure apparatus includes: first driving device which drives the trunk lid which is pivotally supported on a vehicle body (wall of a luggage compartment) in at least a closure direction; an electromagnetic clutch which disconnectably connects an operation force transmission path between the trunk lid and the first driving device; a lock device which restricts the trunk lid into the closure state; and a second driving device which drives the trunk lid from an immediate complete closure prior position to a complete (full) closure position.
However, since, in the previously proposed vehicular trunk lid closure apparatus, the first driving device is linked only to one side of the trunk lid (so-called, one-side drive) with such problems as a cost it takes and an attachment space taken into consideration, the trunk lid is deformed due to a positional deviation of the trunk lid, viz., leftward and rightward sides of the trunk lid with respect to a vertical direction of the vehicle body occurs at the immediate complete closure prior position upon which a reaction force of a seal member extended on an opening of the luggage compartment (so called, seal reaction force) is acted.
In details, when the trunk lid is driven in the closure direction by means of the first driving device to be reached to the immediate complete closure prior position and is engaged with a striker of the lock device disposed on the vehicle body, the leftward side of the trunk lid to which the first driving device is linked is strongly pressed against the seal member by the first driving device. However, the rightward side of the trunk lid to which the first driving device is linked is deformed in a crimped manner on the opening due to a biasing force developed from the seal member and/or gas stay. In the above-described state, the drive of the trunk lid is switched from the first driving device to the second driving device so that the trunk lid is driven in the complete closure position. It is necessary to stop the operation of the first driving device, with the electromagnetic clutch disconnected, before the operation of the second driving device. At this time, when the electromagnetic clutch is disconnected with the trunk lid deformed, an eternal force of the first driving device acted upon the leftward side of the trunk lid is eliminated. Hence, a distortion energy stored in the trunk lid together with the seal reaction force and the biasing force of the gas stay causes the leftward side of the trunk lid to forcibly be lifted in an upward direction so that a strange or unpleasant sound is developed to deteriorate a good quality feeling
With the above-described problems in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a closure apparatus and method for a lid of a compartment such as a trunk lid of a luggage compartment of an automotive vehicle which can prevent the unpleasant sound for the lid closed by the driving device from being developed and can improve the good quality feeling.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a closure apparatus for an elongated lid of a compartment, the lid being pivotally supported on a wall defining the compartment via a pair of mutually spaced apart hinge arms, comprising: a driving device that drives the lid to be pivoted in at least a closure direction via one of the pair of mutually spaced apart hinge arms; an electromagnetic clutch that disconnectably connects an operation force transmission path between the driving device and the lid; a look device that is enabled to be engaged with the lid at a first closure position of the lid to the compartment and to restrict the lid into a locked state; a detecting section that detects an engagement state of the lock state of the lock device with the lid and outputs a locked state detection signal indicating the engagement state thereof with the lid; and a control device that controls each of the driving device and the electromagnetic clutch to make a deformation of the lid to the compartment return to its original form in response to an output of the locked state detection signal from the detecting section.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a closure method for an elongated lid of a compartment, the lid being pivotally supported on a wall defining the compartment via a pair of mutually spaced apart hinge arms, comprising: driving the lid to be pivoted in at least a closure direction via one of the pair of mutually spaced apart hinge arms; providing an electromagnetic clutch disconnectably connecting an operation force transmission path between the driving device and the lid; providing a lock device that is engaged with the lid at a first closure position of the lid to the compartment and restricts the lid into a locked state; detecting an engagement state of the lock state of the lock device with the lid; outputting a looked state detection signal indicating the engagement state thereof with the lid: and controlling each of the driving device and the electromagnetic clutch to make a deformation of the lid to the compartment when the lid is engaged with the lock device return to its original form in response to an output of the locked state detection signal.
This summary of the invention does not necessarily describe all necessary features so that the invention may also be a sub-combination of these described features.